I've long held a deep fascination for these Leviathans of the sea. They seem to hold an almost sacred place within the human psyche, a mythological one, perhaps even in the collective unconscious of mankind. In 1974 when the Disney film came out, 'Island at the Top of the World', my imagination was captured. I had long wanted to see them in person. So many films, Tv shows, both fiction and non, Jacques-Yves Cousteau, Sea Hunt, & Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, were some favorites. having me wanting to swim alongside them. In 2012 I took my nieces to see the film, 'BIG MIRACLE', I decided I had to go on whale watch for my 50th b-day and did.
The film was about the Oct 7, 1988 CE: Operation Breakthrough. A real-life 1988 event where a small Alaskan town, a news reporter, and a Greenpeace activist unite with rival superpowers to rescue a family of gray whales trapped in Arctic ice, showcasing human cooperation and media attention for a cause. It's based on the book Freeing the Whales and depicts the unlikely alliance between locals, oil companies, and even the US and Soviet militaries to create breathing holes for the whales to reach open water. It was inspiring to watch so many different groups come together for a single common cause, seemingly so unimportant to the big picture, but was in fact the big picture, a lesson learned & shared. We humans have so much potential, if only we could be respectful, work well & play well together, more often.
I'm both fortunate & grateful to have been able to go on see them numerous times over the past 12 years, sometimes from the beach, others on the 15 Whale watches I’ve been on, thus discovering the North Atlantic Right Whale and following its migration path from St. Augustine Florida, (their calving grounds) to Cape Cod Massachusetts, (their feeding grounds). Each time has been a different kind of adventure, everything from seeing 10 different species altogether in the hundreds and hundreds, during an especially food abundant spring, hanging out with the very social & sentient Humpbacks to finding an entangled mother Humpback and her calf and staying with them until help arrived and set them free again. We've went to seminars and events with the Center for Coastal Studies Provincetown as well as attended a Right Whale Festival in Jacksonville Florida. We've also been most recently to the Mystic Seaport Museum, Whaling Exhibit, previously to the New Bedford Whale Museum numerous times, and to the one on Nantucket, as well, which holds some of the artifacts from the ESSEX, the real life adventure & happening that inspired Herman Melville's, Moby Dick. We've even been to Melville's home in the Berkshires. He's considered the first true American literary voice, more so than both Washington Irving & Nathaniel Hawthorne, who to my surprise had collection of Turner watercolors 5-6ish.
Ok, so I'm rambling now. Truth is I'm just taken by, fascinated by these vocal creatures, having listened to their voices on cd for near 2 decades, reminds me of pan pipes, so soothing and emotive. The very first whale watch I was on off Hyannis on the Cape. I never saw them, only smelled & heard them through an extremely dese fog, where sky & water were barely distinguishable. I have hopes of swimming with them someday. Anyway, here's one of several whale themed pieces I've done over the years.
'Save the Whale' 36”x18” oil, Image based on a photo from Secrets of the Whales Book by Brian Skerry
Kiss the Sky 30"x30" oil
The Visible 16"x40" oil 'Standing on a whale, fishing for minnows.'
'Plight of the North Atlantic Right Whale From Above' 24"x24" mixed media on panel
